ABSTRACT
Among other stories it is related, O auspicious King, that one night the Khalīfah, Hārūn al-Rashīd, left his palace, accompanied by his wazīr Jafar, his wazīr al-Fazl, Abū Ishāk, his favourite singer, the poet Abū Nuwās, Masrūr the sword-bearer, and Ahmad-the-Moth, his chief of police. They went, each disguised as a merchant, down to the banks of the Tigris and, getting on board a boat, allowed the current to bear them whither it would. For Jafar had told the Khalīfah, who was suffering from sleeplessness and depression of spirit, that there was no better remedy for such weariness than seeing a new thing, hearing a new thing, and visiting a new place.
